Monday, July 7, 2014

Taking the Oakland City Council's Temperature on the A's Lease Deal

OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | There remains no clear gauge for how the Oakland City Council may react to the proposed 10-year lease approved last week by the Coliseum Joint Powers Authority allowing the A's to continue playing at O.co Coliseum.

The San Francisco Chronicleoffered a potential preview Monday of the vote to come before the City Council sometime before the end of the month. Members of the Coliseum JPA--Councilmembers Larry Reid and Rebecca Kaplan--along with Noel Gallo, are on record in favor of the lease deal. But, put down Councilmember Desley Brooks as a possible no, according the Chronicle. Incidentally, Brooks was removed from the JPA last year by Council President Pat Kernighan.

Otherwise, the remaining four members and Mayor Jean Quan appear on the fence, said the paper, although all are voicing general support for the A's remaining in Oakland and, hopefully, playing in new digs sometime in the foreseeable future.

Under the terms of the JPA, which oversees the publicly-owned Coliseum complex, the Oakland City Council and Alameda County Board of Supervisors must also approve the lease. Most expect the vote on the county side to be far less contentious than the city side. Elected officials in Oakland have openly expressed an opinion a belief they were left out in the cold over the finer points surrounding the 14-month negotiating process between the A's and the JPA.

There is no official date for either government body to vote on the A's lease.